“The Crown Estate’s just looking at it commercially, but it’s our lives.

“We were told when we moved in if we looked after it we had a home for life.”

Neighbours Chris and Ruth King have been told they can buy their home of 15 years for £220,000, which they can’t afford.

Mrs King said: “When it pas-sed to the Crown Estate it wasn’t just property and land – it was the community as well. They don’t care anymore."

Ken Jones, Crown Estate director of rural and coastal portfolio, said the Estate has “a clear commercial remit to benefit the public finances”.

He said: “While many tenants are understandably upset by the news that notice is being served on their occupation there are numerous instances where families have been keen to take up our offer for them to buy the property they’ve been living in.

“Conscious that many can’t afford to buy, we’ve gone well beyond the statutory two-month notice periods for market rented properties such as these with the vast majority of notices being served on a four- or six-month basis.

“We’ve also asked that tenants continue to talk to us and made it clear that if there are cases of particular hardship, we’re willing to be flexible.”

The Crown Estate has told Taunton Deane Council it will not be attending the authority’s corporate scrutiny committee meeting on Thursday when the tenants’ plight ill be discussed.

In a letter, the Crown said it had “already engaged widely and openly with our tenants and their local elected representatives on this issue”.

Ipsoregulated

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